![]() Indeed, Wild Wild Country's greatest failing is that it doesn't effectively interrogate the corruption and hypocrisy of the Rajneeshee organization. ![]() ![]() Rajneesh later changed his name to Osho–likely to avoid a connection with the crimes associated with him and his followers–and after his death, his name still commands a lucrative industry of books, stress management seminars, and a tourist-friendly meditation retreat in India. He wore a one-million-dollar diamond watch, lounged on a white wingback throne, and owned 93 Rolls-Royces, from which he'd wave to his devotees as he slowly drove by. Rajneesh himself–while a provocative thinker about ideas of spiritualism and sexuality, and a deliberately hypnotic speaker who chews on the consonant of each word like it's an incantatory spell–was also a charlatan and exploiter of the easily influenced. But in the end, it goes too easy on an organization that many would characterize as a cult. It does provide a valuable and timely consideration of the at-times-justifiable xenophobia and intolerance that Oregon's conservative residents felt toward the Rajneeshees (most of whom, it should be noted, were white). Indeed, in spite of its length, Wild Wild Country confines itself to only a few viewpoints, and elides many crucial details of a truly unbelievable story. We watch eerie archival footage of Rajneesh's pink- and maroon-bedecked followers, many of whom wear haunted, vacant expressions even as they chant and dance-but the filmmakers don't push beyond that, so we're meant to reach our own conclusions. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |